Monthly Archives: March 2019

Mar 1 2019

Lynne Patton: “Michael Cohen turned on the President because Mueller threatened to throw his wife in jail for up to 30 years”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 1, 2019 by 

The appearance of long-time Trump confidante Lynn Patton at the congressional testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen created a considerable stir amid Washington DC.   However, the context of her appearance takes on even more drama when considered against Patton’s Facebook post from January 18th of this year:

Lynne Patton: […] 3) Many of you may already know that I considered Michael Cohen to be one of my very best friends. Countless people can confirm that we were virtually inseparable during my employment at Trump – and that he is, single-handedly – responsible for introducing me to the Trump family and effectively changing my entire life. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that my heart still breaks for him and for his family, with whom I had grown extremely close.

4) What many of you may not be aware of is the fact that I can personally confirm that the ONLY reason Michael Cohen “turned on” the President of the United States is because Mueller threatened to throw his wife in jail for up to 30 years. Period. She is the co-guarantor of a $20M personal loan that Mueller discovered Michael secured back in 2015 by falsely inflating the value of his taxi medallions – effectively making her part & parcel to the federal charge of “Making False Statements to a Financial Institution,” to which Cohen ultimately plead guilty. This is also the reason why Cohen’s longtime taxi medallion partner, Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, was granted immunity. (read more)

This is a rather stunning statement.  However, it holds the elements of truth and explanation as to why the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller/Andrew Weissmann, would pass off their assembled Cohen prosecution to the Southern District of New York.

If this leverage against Cohen’s wife to gain virtually unlimited legal and political cooperation is true; and it does follow a pre-established pattern of unethical prosecutorial conduct previously displayed by Andrew Weissmann; then many of the issues surrounding the behavior of Michael Cohen do begin to make sense.

Interestingly, this type of unlawful coercion and threat to compel a guilty plea and cooperation from a defendant are specifically prohibited:

In fact, when Michael Cohen appeared before Judge Andrew Carter on November 29th, 2018, part of the plea questioning from the court goes directly to this issue.

The judge specifically asked Cohen, twice, if any threats or promises were made to Cohen in exchange for his cooperation.  [TRANSCRIPT]:

[pdf court transcript – here]

If it is accurate that prosecutors leveraged the potential prosecution of Mr. Cohen’s wife in order to gain his plea agreement – then not only were those threats unethical, demonstrably prosecutorial misconduct and potentially illegal, but also Michael Cohen’s denial therein means he would have lied to the court in his plea hearing as noted above.

However, this could explain how much control is being exerted over Cohen for maximum political value.  Remember this same prosecution twice agreed to defer Cohen’s imprisonment to afford him time to testify to congress.

Additionally, immediately after the guilty plea by Michael Cohen his advisor/spokesman, Lanny Davis, then changed the legal team in preparation for further exploitation by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings and democrat politicians in congress.

WASHINGTON […] Lanny Davis, Cohen’s legal adviser, announced that Michael Monico and Barry Spevack will replace Petrillo, a former federal prosecutor, and his associate, Amy Lester.

Petrillo, who worked for years in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, had represented Cohen through his cooperation with federal prosecutors, including special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen hired Petrillo on June 19, 2018, replacing white-collar defense attorney Stephen Ryan.

A source familiar with the shakeup told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the change is being made because the focus for Cohen is now on “Washington and Congress” rather than with prosecutors in New York. (link)

Curiouser, and curiouser…

(Lynne Patton Facebook Link)

[…]  9) Lastly, given that Michael Cohen is barred from discussing the Russian investigation when he testifies before the House Oversight Committee, it’s safe to conclude that his testimony … will effectively amount to nothing more than political theater and partisan fodder for late night hosts simply to embarrass a sitting President over past behavior he may or may not have engaged in as a private citizen.

10) In closing, Michael Cohen always wanted to be famous. Sadly, he has gotten his wish. I personally stopped communicating with Michael when it became known in May 2018 that he was defrauding various companies (from a Korean defense firm to a global pharmaceutical company) for millions of dollars by falsely claiming he could leverage his connection with the President to their favor.  (more)

References:

Final thought… Yikes, if what Patton claims is accurate, well, what does that say about the guy in charge of the Mueller process, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein?

Mar 1 2019

President Trump Tweets: “Watch Tucker Opening”, So Here’s The Video Replay…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

President Trump draws attention to the Tucker Carlson opening segment:

Here is the segment:

Mar 1 2019

Predictable – Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings Announce Next Set of Witnesses…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

Following the transparently predictable, pre-planned and organized schedule toward Pelosi’s insufferable impeachment scheme, Chairmen Adam Schiff (HPSCI) and Elijah Cummings (WH Oversight) announce they will be calling additional Trump officials and family members for testimony.

Remember, the testimony of Michael Cohen is the cornerstone of the effort.  Cohen’s  testimony was organized immediately following the 2018 mid-term election.  This nonsense is all sequenced by design:

(The Hill) The House Intelligence Committee plans to question Felix Sater, the longtime business associate of President Trump involved in efforts to build a Trump property in Moscow, in a public hearing in March, committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday.

Schiff said the open hearing with Sater is scheduled for March 14 and would focus on the Trump Moscow discussions. (read more)

Additionally:

(Pelosi Rules)

(VIA CNN) House Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings on Thursday outlined plans for his committee to seek interviews with close Trump associates and family members following a blockbuster public hearing featuring President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen.

Cummings told CNN that five or six House committees will investigate all the allegations that emerged from Cohen’s testimony.

Asked if his committee would focus on Trump’s role in the hush-money scandal, the Maryland Democrat said: “Probably.”

Cummings told reporters that his committee will reach out to individuals named repeatedly during Wednesday’s hearing for interviews, saying his panel will comb through the transcript of the hours-long hearing to “figure out who we want to talk to and we’ll bring them in.” (read more)

Remember also that Pelosi changed the rules and responsibilities of House committees specifically to target the White House.  The former “House Government Oversight and Reform Committee” was even structurally changed to narrow oversight. Now it ONLYlooks at the White House; the rest of government oversight has been entirely abandoned.

Obviously this approach is unprecedented. However, as with everything that has happened thus far, this level of resistance continues to raise political confrontation into uncharted territory.

(pdf source – Speaker Pelosi Rules)

Yes, you read that correctly… Chairman Elijah Cummings is now in charge of  ‘White House Oversight Committee’ with responsibility for: “Oversight Over the Executive Office of the President”.  This sets up the system for Cummings to target President Trump, his family, and all members of the executive branch as they relate to specific White House functions.

These people are bananas.

They are predictable, but they’re still bananas.

The way to defeat the Pelosi/Schumer impeachment scheme is to expose the cornerstone of the political fraud the scheme relies upon.

All of this is carefully designed.  None of this is organic.  All of the participants have networked contacts acting as intermediaries (like Lawfare) to provide arms-length plausible deniability to the larger political scheme.  These plans and schemes are all professional Democrats spend time thinking and talking about.  This is what they do. This is all they do.  This is their purpose in life; nothing else matters.

Additionally within the new House Rules Pelosi unveiled last December, HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff has until April 15th, 2019, to organize his summer hearing schedule for attacks against the White House.  Speaker Pelosi hasn’t tried to hide the plan; heck, she’s published it for all to see.

The structural impeachment schedule will ultimately lead to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler.  Professional political Democrats would not be using “impeachment” in the constitutional sense of the process (high crimes and misdemeanors); but rather weaponizing the process –as a tool itself– to: •target the executive office; •diminish the presidency (“isolate”/”marginalize”, Alinsky rules); •and position themselves for 2020.

Chairman Nadler will begin specifically focused hearings sometime in late April or May 2019.  If they stay committed to the timeline, and so far they are right on cue, the House impeachment vote will be scheduled for sometime in the early/mid fall of this year.

Following their plan, this gives Democrats and the media around six months +/- to build an overwhelming political argument against President Trump; and, with the help of media, create such political controversy that Senate Republicans (Decepticon Caucus) will be showcasing pearl-clutching anxiety into the senate impeachment trial.

Fortunately there are signals beginning to surface that indicate at least some members of congress are aware of the insufferable scheme and beginning to get out in front of it.  Representative Jim Jordan leads the charge:

Embedded video

Rep. Jim Jordan

✔@Jim_Jordan

“What did you talk to Mr. Schiff about?”

Cohen: “I spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”

“Woah. Not just what time to show up? Actually what you’re going to talk about?”

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The best defense is a good offense.

The republicans might be in the minority position but they have a distinct advantage.  We have the opposition’s playbook in front of us…. we know what they are going to do; we know what the sequence of plays is; and we know generally the timeline they will be using…  That’s valuable information.  So use it !

Reference Information:

 

Mar 1 2019

Justin From Canada is in Very Serious Legal Trouble – Former AG Testifies Against Prime Minister…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

Justin from Canada is in very serious legal jeopardy after recent revelations that he interfered the Canadian Attorney General’s office regarding the prosecution of a Quebec engineering firm SNC-Lavalin surrounding bribes to Libyan government officials.

Canadian political pundit from Rebel Media, Ezra Levant, tweeted out an excellent summary, and then provided a very well organized video to highlight stunning testimony from the former Canadian AG.  Here is Mr. Levant’s explanation:

For my American and British friends: Canada’s Justin Trudeau is done. He might try to fight on; I personally think he’s too damaged. He’s irreparably damaged. Here’s what happened in a few short tweets.

Trudeau was detonated today by his former Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s first Aboriginal A-G. She just testified in Parliament, in meticulous detail, how Trudeau and his staff tried to get her to drop criminal charges against a corrupt company that he liked.

She refused to bend the law for Trudeau’s cronies. But they didn’t stop. Trudeau; his chief of staff; his principal secretary; even the finance minister. They met her ten times, phoned her ten more. trying to get the charges dropped. She wouldn’t. So Trudeau fired her as A-G.

The story leaked out earlier this month, but it was all anonymous sources. The former A-G herself didn’t say a word, saying she was bound by attorney-client privilege and cabinet confidences. She was effectively gagged; so Trudeau was the only one talking.

Trudeau took advantage of her enforced silence to claim she supported him and everything was fine. After all, when he fired her as A-G, he appointed her to the minor post of veterans minister.

When she heard him make that boast, she quit as veterans minister. He was shocked.

Then suddenly Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s right hand man — his best friend since college — resigned, claiming he had done nothing wrong. Which is odd. It looked like a compromise — Butts left, so Wilson-Raybould met with the cabinet and the caucus again.

Wilson-Raybould still didn’t say anything publicly. She hired a retired Supreme Court judge as her lawyer, to advise her on what she could say. Under pressure, the Liberal dominated Parliamentary committee invited her to testify, and Trudeau grudgingly waived some privilege.

So today she testified. In great detail. Exactly who pressured her. Exactly how. Exactly when. She named names. Including the prime minister himself. Here’s her statement: (LINK)

It’s against the law to pressure the Attorney General to obstruct a criminal prosecution. Here’s Canada’s Criminal Code. Section 139(2) is obstruction — it carries a 10-year prison term. (LINK)

Last detail. Jody Wilson-Raybould’s father was an Aboriginal activist who butted heads with Justin Trudeau’s father. Here they are bantering. Bill Wilson tells Pierre Trudeau that his daughter Jody wants to be PM one day. Maybe she will be?

Here’s a great video breakdown:

Mar 1 2019

President Trump Surprises Troops During Stop at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

En route to the White House from Hanoi, Vietnam, Air-Force One stopped in Alaska for refueling.  During the stopover President Trump delivered remarks to U.S. troops stationed at Elmendorf AFB.

President Trump was greeted by Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy who accompanied the president to a base hangar where U.S. troops were gathered.

Mar 1 2019

CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett Discusses GDP Growth…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Kevin Hassett discusses the U.S. economy’s 2.6 percent growth in the fourth quarter, and the outlook for the U.S. economy through the rest of 2019.

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Notice how most of the financial pundits are focusing on what the “global economy” needs; specifically what the EU and China need to do to gain economic growth.  From that position, the U.S. trade reset is adverse to their financial interest; those financial interests are driven by Wall Street not Main Street.

Economic nationalists who understand the concept of ‘America First’ focus on what the USA economy needs, and do not accept a position that the U.S. should acquiesce our position to benefit the economic needs of other nations.  That’s the primary difference.

Few understand the MAGAnomic reset and what was predicted to happen in the space between disconnecting a Wall Street economic engine (globalism and multinationals) and restarting a Main Street economic engine (nationalism/America-First).  In 2016 CTH explained where we would be today.

President Trump’s MAGAnomic trade and foreign policy agenda is jaw-dropping in scale, scope and consequence. There are multiple simultaneous aspects to each policy objective; however, many have been visible for a long time – some even before the election victory in November ’16.

♦ When U.S. banks were allowed to merge their investment divisions with their commercial banking operations (the removal of Glass Stegal) something changed on Wall Street.

Companies who are evaluated based on their financial results, profits and losses, remained in their traditional role as traded stocks on the U.S. Stock Market and were evaluated accordingly. However, over time investment instruments -which are secondary to actual company results- created a sub-set within Wall Street that detached from actual bottom line company results.

The resulting secondary financial market system was essentially ‘investment markets’. Both ordinary company stocks and the investment market stocks operate on the same stock exchanges. But the underlying valuation is tied to entirely different metrics.

Financial products were developed (as investment instruments) that are essentially wagers or bets on the outcomes of actual companies traded on Wall Street. Those bets/wagers form the hedge markets and are [essentially] people trading on expectations of performance. The “derivatives market” is the ‘betting system’.

♦Ford Motor Company (only chosen as a commonly known entity) has a stock valuation based on their actual company performance in the market of manufacturing and consumer purchasing of their product. However, there can be thousands of financial instruments wagering on the actual outcome of their performance.

There are two initial bets on these outcomes that form the basis for Hedge-fund activity. Bet ‘A’ that Ford hits a profit number, or bet ‘B’ that they don’t. There are financial instruments created to place each wager. [The wagers form the derivatives] But it doesn’t stop there.

Additionally, more financial products are created that bet on the outcomes of the A/B bets. A secondary financial product might find two sides betting on both A outcome and B outcome.

Party C bets the “A” bet is accurate, and party D bets against the A bet. Party E bets the “B” bet is accurate, and party F bets against the B. If it stopped there we would only have six total participants. But it doesn’t stop there, it goes on and on and on…

The outcome of the bets forms the basis for the tenuous investment markets. The important part to understand is that the investment funds are not necessarily attached to the original company stock, they are now attached to the outcome of bet(s). Hence an inherent disconnect is created.

Subsequently, if the actual stock doesn’t meet it’s expected P-n-L outcome (if the company actually doesn’t do well), and if the financial investment was betting against the outcome, the value of the investment actually goes up. The company performance and the investment bets on the outcome of that performance are two entirely different aspects of the stock market. [Hence two metrics.]

♦Understanding the disconnect between an actual company on the stock market, and the bets for and against that company stock, helps to understand what can happen when fiscal policy is geared toward the underlying company (Main Street MAGAnomics), and not toward the bets therein (Investment Class).

The U.S. stock markets’ overall value can increase with Main Street policy, and yet the investment class can simultaneously decrease in value even though the company(ies) in the stock market is/are doing better. This detachment is critical to understand because the ‘real economy’ is based on the company, the ‘paper economy’ is based on the financial investment instruments betting on the company.

Trillions can be lost in investment instruments, and yet the overall stock market -as valued by company operations/profits- can increase.

Here’s the critical part – Conversely, there are now classes of companies on the U.S. stock exchange that never make a dime in profit, yet the value of the company increases.

This dynamic is possible because the financial investment bets are not connected to the bottom line profit. (Examples include Tesla Motors, Amazon and a host of internet stocks like Facebook and Twitter.) It is this investment group of companies that stands to lose the most if/when the underlying system of betting on them stops or slows.

Specifically due to most recent U.S. fiscal policy, modern multinational banks, including all of the investment products therein, are more closely attached to this investment system on Wall Street. It stands to reason they are at greater risk of financial losses overall with a shift in economic policy.

That financial and economic risk is the basic reason behind Trump and Mnuchin putting a protective, secondary and parallel, banking system in place for Main Street.

Big multinational banks can suffer big losses from their investments, and yet the Main Street economy can continue growing, and have access to capital, uninterrupted.

Bottom Line: U.S. companies who have actual connection to a growing U.S. economy can succeed; based on the advantages of the new economic environment and MAGA policy, specifically in the areas of manufacturing, trade and the ancillary benefactors.

Meanwhile U.S. investment assets (multinational investment portfolios) that are disconnected from the actual results of those benefiting U.S. companies, and as a consequence also disconnected from the U.S. economic expansion, can simultaneously drop in value even though the U.S. economy is thriving.

Mar 1 2019

NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow Discusses Status of Economy, 4th Quarter GDP Result, China Trade…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on CNBC to discuss the latest releases of economic stats and the on-going trade talks between the U.S. and China.  Kudlow notes the U.S. and China are making progress specifically due to USTR Robert Lighthizer.  Interesting interview.

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Nuance and team subtlety are important here. Larry Kudlow is a loyal soldier, no question, but his economic leaning is toward trade outcomes that benefit Wall Street… Robert Lighthizer is a fierce battle-hardened trade expert, with an outlook that is multi-generational toward Main Street.

Listen to Lighthizer talk about the economic future for his grandkids in his congressional testimony yesterday and you’ll see what I mean. NO COMPROMISE with China.  Lighthizer is prepared to fight all of Main Street’s enemies, including congress.

Mar 1 2019

GDP Release: 4th Quarter Growth 2.6%, 2018 Annualized 2.9%, 2018 Yearly Real GDP 3.1%…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 28, 2019 by 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis, BEA, finally released the fourth quarter growth rate estimate for 2018.  The 4th quarter growth result at 2.6% exceeded expectations, and shows the U.S. economy is growing stronger than almost all economic forecasts.

WASHINGTON DC – In the fourth-quarter, U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Thursday’s report beat expectations, with consensus economists polled by Bloomberg looking for growth to slow to 2.2% during the final three months of the year. The domestic economy grew at a pace of 3.4% in the third quarter and 4.2% in the second quarter.

Despite the softening in GDP in the fourth quarter, overall growth in 2018 was solid. Real GDP grew at a pace of 3.1% in 2018, measured from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the final quarter of 2018. This represented a stronger pace of annual growth than the 3% targeted by the Trump administration. (read more)

The professional political class and corporate financial media are once again trying to talk down the strength of the U.S. economy.  However, the Main Street economy is powering through despite their efforts.

There is a visible connection between the Wall Street multinationals and the financial media; both are riddled with anxiety over Trump’s economic policies that favor Main Street over Wall Street and it shows in the media coverage.  I digress.

“Consumer spending continued to grow solidly and, most encouragingly, business investment growth recovered sharply after a dip in the third quarter. Despite big external headwinds and financial market volatility in the fourth quarter, U.S. firms are not retrenching sharply on capex. Labor market strength and ongoing fiscal stimulus should see domestic demand expanding by enough to keep GDP growth above potential in 2019, despite a rising drag from net trade.”

— Brian Coulton, Fitch Ratings.

“Business investment was a big positive surprise, with nonresidential spending soaring 6.2% on the back of a 6.7% jump in equipment spending and a honking 13.1% increase in intellectual property products.”

— Sal Guatieri, BMO Capital Markets.

The rate of import goods, a deduction from GDP, slowed down between the third and fourth quarter and consumer spending was higher than anticipated.  That’s good news, but that’s not the whole story….. for Main Street it gets even better.

The current inflation rate (PCE index) was once again measured at 1.6%.  However incomes are rising faster than inflation.  This leads to more “disposable income”:

Disposable personal income increased $218.7 billion, or 5.7 percent, in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of $160.9 billion, or 4.2 percent, in the third quarter. (TABLE 8)

(pdf – BEA source)

BEA: During 2018 (measured from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018), real GDP increased 3.1 percent, compared with an increase of 2.5 percent during 2017.

The Full Picture: Business investment into Main Street USA continues to increase.  Manufacturing jobs and durable good employment in Main Street continues to increase.  Wages continue to rise.  Inflation on most consumer goods remains low.  Disposable income is growing, which means more consumer spending.  More consumer spending means higher rates of economic growth and an expanding economy.

MAGAnomics is working.

TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2

U.S. economy grew faster than expected in Q4 https://news.yahoo.com/4q18-gdp-first-and-second-estimate-130025490.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=tw … via @YahooNews

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U.S. economy grew faster than expected in Q4

In the fourth-quarter, U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

news.yahoo.com

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TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2

GDP surprise chalked up to unexpected consumer spending during shutdown, R&D growth https://on.mktw.net/2TgXj0M 

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Consumer spending during shutdown, R&D growth led to GDP surprise, economists say

Here’s what economists are saying about the 2.6% growth in gross domestic product during the fourth quarter, which was faster than consensus expectations.

marketwatch.com

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